Monday, May 2, 2016

2016 Week 17: Remembering

Flowers of the week

Sadly there were very few lilac blooms this year and their life-span was all too brief.

Reminders of the brevity of life are ever present, urging us to make the most of each day.
Wise care of our earthly bodies and stewardship of our time and resources becomes more important.
Michael is a great role model. He occupies well, does not waste time, and somehow manages to exercise regularly (just got back from a 19 mile bicycle ride).

So I try to fit in exercise, preferably with others. Monday was a beautiful day, our group was invited to go outdoors to one member's back yard.

Tuesday afternoon at Ivy Tech we tried class outside for awhile, but it was too warm and bright.
I guess we are spoiled by the indoor comforts and conveniences.

I really liked the reflection of our group in the windows and the studious expression of one class member.

April 26th was the tenth anniversary of the Taylor University van accident that took five young lives. The story of the two mistakenly identified was reported and revisited on the national news. The girl buried and believed to be dead for five weeks before her true identity became known, is seen here speaking at her alma mater in Wednesday's commemorative chapel.
Her father was our kids' youth pastor when they were teenagers. She was very young when the family moved to Michigan.

Whitney (Cerak '09) Wheeler was raised by a loving, Christian family in Gaylord, Michigan. She was active in high school and that continued over into her years at Taylor University. She lived in Olson Hall, met amazing people at TU and majored in Psychology. Since college she lived in Kenya for 2 years with her sister and married Matt Wheeler who is in the Army. They are currently living at Fort Bragg, NC and have 3 beautiful children - Zachary, Rebecca and Samantha.

I enjoyed listening to both commemorative chapels and then went on to a few others, including the one in which my second cousin was the visiting speaker.

Originally from Berne, Indiana, Karen Muselman Thomas earned degrees in communications and piano from Taylor University in 1987. Upon graduation, she worked for five years in the admissions office at Taylor directing travel recruitment. In 1995, she completed her Master of Divinity degree at Asbury Theological Seminary, where she has served on their Board of Trustees for over twenty years. Karen has held pastoral and leadership positions in several churches and regularly teaches the Bible in a multitude of venues. Karen has joyfully served as a member of Taylor University Board of Trustees since 2007. Karen resides in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband David and serves as chief chauffeur for their three active kids Luke (15), JP (14) and Mary Esther (11).

Speaking of relations, my sister-in-law's niece visited us Wednesday evening. She had to check out the famous sculptured tree and, of course, I had to sneak a photo.

A couple squirrels were photo-worthy as well. This one was so absorbed in munching what the birds dropped from the feeders above that it seemed unaware of my presence.

This one doesn't seem to mind my watchful turtle on the window sill.

Friday Mike was sleeping off the effects of a wisdom-tooth extraction, Stephan was in the woods loading up some logs he cut for the timber-frame house he plans to build, and I wandered about admiring the views.

Fungus amongus; Heavy log-loading process; View of the house from the lane

No weekly blog post is complete without an appearance of our great granddaughter. This was my favorite of the almost daily photos Leah posts on Facebook.

Saturday was cool and rainy. Sunday, started out beautiful and sunny.

We visited the Mount Pleasant Community Church in Daleville where Stephan and Karen have been attending since they moved to that neighborhood. He was the guest speaker. His talk--"Remembering Missionary Days"--about growing up in different countries and cultures and life on a missionary ship, was fascinating, even to us who lived it with him! He has such a good memory!

We had at least four different events we could attend in the afternoon, but chose to stick with the family-related.

Kayla led her many groups of little dancers in their spring recital at Cornerstone Center for the Arts--adorable little ballerinas, teeny tiny tappers, cute hip hoppers, and more.

A family member's van totaled early this morning and a life spared, remind us again of the value of each day we are allowed with one another.